The weather might not be summery yet, but the Chelsea in Bloom in association with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) gets you on the mood instantly with shops blossoming with their amazing installations. The shops are invited to compete for the award ‘Best Floral Display’. The theme this year is ‘Decades’ to celebrate 100 years of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The floral displays reflect iconic periods of British design whilst taking inspiration from participating retailers’ archives from the past 100 years.

Browns.

Brunello Cucinelli.

LK Bennett

Moyles Stevens.

Smythson.

Space NK.

The voting is still on here: http://www.chelseainbloom.co.uk/gallery/

I don’t often do this but I wanted to draw your attention to jewellery and accessory windows as they can often very elaborate or miniature schemes to make such small products stand out. So here are a collection of high-end accessory windows mainly from the Sloane street area in London.

Smythson.

Swarovski

Tiffany’s.

Another Tiffany’s minuature windows. What a small-scale miracle!

Boodles.

Cartier.

Links of London.

MCM.

The last couple of years Harrods have celebrated fairy tales with a great success within their windows, and this year is no dissapointment. Disney Princesses from classic Snow White to a more recent Pocahontas adorn the store’s facade. The images to follow will take you to the luxurous Disney world of Princess stories. And a classic Chanel window thrown in.

Cinderella starts off our tour. I love the clock reflected on the ground.

Princess Tiana from the The Princess and The Frog.

Snow White.

Princess Rapunzel and her long hair.

The Sleeping Beauty aka Princess Aurora.

The Little Mermaid aka Princess Ariel.

Lovely Pocahontas.

This is Mulan, She married a captain of the military. Needless to say I never saw this story..

I love this Chanel no 5 window at the side of the store.

Christmas windows around London have now arrived and we will start our journey with  the oriental inspired Harvey Nics. The windows are a continuity of their oriental inspired A/W assortment, and the trend is set to carry on for next spring. Oriental influence has been apparent in fashion and homewares all of autumn, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see other retailers tapping into this trend with their seasonal windows.

(Images, courtesy of Harvey Nichols)

A series of Oriental inspired props such as chinese lanterns, oriental flowers and  fans are repeated in these impactful designs. The Harvey Nichols’ pretty and modern attitude is created using these luminescent brightly coloured metallic finishes, mixed with more traditional Oriental materials with splashes of fluorescent colour added on top. Everything is embellished with sparkle, glitter, jewels and Christmas lights.

The windows are framed in these round and hexicon shapes (to name a few) to concentrate on the displays, but I also like the way the frames extend to the exterior of the windows, something Harvey Nichols have done in the past to a very successful effect.

The Olympic Games here in London are well under way and is the talk of the town, and I would imagine on peoples minds all over the world. The retail world is showing their support to the Team Great Britain with these eye catching windows.

Joseph.

I love the humorous take in these Gieves & Hawkes windows in Sloane Square.

Peter Jones, Sloane Square.

Tommy Hilfiger, Brompton Road.

Ted Bakers windows are always full of humour.

Links of London.

Kiki McDonald.

Harrods have gone all out with their Queens’ Diamond Jubilee windows as expected. I know the celebrations have now ended, but I can’t not show you all these lovely displays!

The day at the races. The Queen is a keen participator at horse races and attends The Derby every year, and so do I!

The whole lenght of the Brompton Road has these different crowns in the windows, they really are amazing!

The masks are back, the last time I saw them around was at the time of the Royal Wedding last year.

Happy long bank holiday weekend for those living in The UK! For those not in Britain, this post will give you a glimpse of how retailers here in London have joined the country wide celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Here is a selection of windows filled with Queen Elizabeth herself, countless Union Jacks and a major opportunity to push any Britain related products…Guess, Regent Street.

Jack Wills, King’s Road.

L.K. Bennett, King’s Road.

Liberty of London, Great Marlborough Street.

Hackett, Sloane Street.

Irregular Choice, Carnaby Street.

The White Company, Sloane SquarePeter Jones, Sloane Square.

The iconic shoe designer Christian Louboutin celebrates 20 years of a career in shoe design. To mark this milestone Selfridges have dedicated a World of Louboutin concept space within the store, as well as series of windows. Both were designed and produced by London display design company StudioXAG.

The layout of each window celebrates a different shoe in the collection with an effective use of repetition, symmetry and a variation in scale of the 2D printed photoghraphs. The use of mirrors further enchances the repetitive element running through the scheme. The collage of all these elements makes a strong product promotion.

Temporary tattoo transfers are available in the concept store.

Moving graphics have been incorporated into the designs, which you can see by clicking here.

The concept store interiors are very much inspired by Louboutin boutiques including Hollywood style entrance archways, ‘wonder cabinets’ at the entrance and gold plinths with tops in Louboutin’s signiture red. The central focus of the space is the celebratory 20Ans tower, a bespoke acrylic and polished brass display for the limited edition capsule collection.

All photos courtesy of StudioXAG. Set up in 2009 by Xavier Sheriff & Gemma Ruse, StudioXAG specialises in art direction and display design for retail. Projects range from prop making and bespoke installations, to design and production of entire shop refits and nationwide window roll-outs. Their clients include Diesel, Fred Perry, London Graphic Centre & Christian Louboutin.

One of the biggest trends from the catwalk for this season was florals, and it shows in the windows around London. It is a trend that comes back year after year, but somehow this year it seems fresher than ever. Here I have a collection of images that shows just how boldly retailers have approached this trend.

Kate Spade, Sloane Square

Miss Selfridge, Oxford Street.

Zara, Oxford Street. Bright florals are very effective with the use of twinning with mannequins with similar outfits and poses.

Joseph, Fulham Road. I walk past this shop daily and I’m really liking their windows. In this one they’ve managed to put a lot of florals into the same window: full floral outfit, the vinyl on the glass and the background with printed roses. But it works and I can’t wait to see what Joseph do next in these windows!

H&M, Oxford Street

Stella McCartney, Fulham Road

Bershka, Oxford Street

Swimwear in contrasting brights meets pastel sets and mannequins in these Harvey Nichols’ 2012 resort windows. The painterly effect on the background creates a dreamy mood and I especially like the fluorescent lighting effects. The use of colour is the main talking point for me: purples and yellows create great contrast, whereas the pastels are calming and make the brights stand out.